"Legends seldom, if ever, take hold as quickly as this one did," writes Ben McGrath in this week's New Yorker ($).

The legend in question is Sam Fuld, a 29 year-old left fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays who hit .350 last year, has an economics degree from Stanford, and yes, is related to Dick Fuld, as in Lehman Brothers Dick Fuld.

"This fearless overachiver -- 'Everyman,' as the Rays' manager, Joe Maddon, called him -- was a blue blood, too, the second cousin (once removed) of the ex-Lehman Brothers chief Richard Fuld."

Best documentary winner Inside Job, which details the Wall Street financial crisis, focuses in part on the actions of Lehman CEO Dick Fuld, who is a second cousin of new Rays OF Sam Fuld's father. Sam has never met Dick but, with an economics degree from Stanford, is obviously familiar with the story. "Now," he said, "I'm going to have to see the movie."

Then, there was Bill Parker of MLB's The Score blog, confirming the relationship (not that there was ever reason to doubt Mark Topkin, but when Dick Fuld and pro baseball are involved, everything's gotta be watertight) in May, with:

Sam Fuld is probably my favorite active baseball player, and has been since before this season started. He’s a little guy who has diabetes and was an economics major at Stanford. He used to work at Stats, Inc. He’s the son of a professor and state senator, and the second cousin of former (disgraced, more or less) Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld.

Sam Fuld is also one of the few baseball players about which a passage such as the following could be written:

St. Petersburg writer Scott Barancik, who, as editor of a Web site called Jewish Baseball News, has doggedly chronicled Fuld's exploits as one of just nine Jewish baseball players in the majors.

Barancik wonders if Fuld connects enough with devout Jews because as a professional ballplayer he "works" Friday nights and Saturdays. His father is Jewish, his mother is Catholic and growing up his family celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah.

"All this is to say for some Jewish people, a guy like Fuld is not Jewish enough," said Barancik, who is also a former St. Petersburg Times staff writer. "He'd be a great spokesman for Jewish causes, (but) I think his marketing opportunities are probably less on the Jewish side of things."